Friday, January 21, 2011

Anatomy of a Sample Knit

So as luck would have it, a couple of months ago, Anne Hanson of knitspot fame, contacted her test knitting groupies to pass along the request by Catherine at Knitting Notions for sample knitters. Catherine was looking for a number of us to knit up Anne's scrumptious patterns in her yarn for the various events she was to attend in the Winter/early Spring.

There, I was waving my hand...pick me, pick me! First up to knit was a set of wristlets, Spiraluscious, in Superwash Sock in the Tea Rose colorway.

I finished this set, very quickly, pretty much a weekend knitting project. (Shortly, thereafter I knit two more sets of Spiraluscious mitts, one in Sheepaints Bamboo and the other in Great Northern Yarns mink/cashmere.)

Then on to Anne's Sprossling Sweater. Catherine sent her Merino/Bamboo blend in the Aubergine colorway...an absolute treasure to knit with.

I had tried knitting myself one last year when the pattern first came out using Dream in Color Smooshy, which I frogged as I kept getting bogged down with aligning the pattern during the decrease rows involved in the shaping...started with the back. So I thought to myself, I will start with the sleeves, two at a time, gain some knitting mojo confidence and away I went.

In just about three weeks, I was done with the completed Sprossling in the 38 inch size and literally, pretty much went straight to the post office to mail out both samples to Catherine because the temptation to keep was so great. And who says you can't teach an old knitter new tricks...steam blocked and crocheted the seams and thoroughly enjoyed both finishing techniques.